“Ten minutes after loading up her plate, when Iris is sipping pale apple juice, she asks Els across the table, “I’m told I should make myself useful. What are my options?”
Els spears a strawberry. “What can you do?”
“I organize.”
“Like your sister.”
“I organize people, events,” Iris says. “Denise organizes information.”
I absorb that. I never thought of myself as organizing anything. I think of myself as listening, coping, avoiding. The words feel good, rolled over in my mind: Denise organizes information.”